Reagan Hails Rapid Gains by Soviets

Former President Ronald Reagan, who once dubbed the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” told a Soviet Parliament committee today that he was amazed at the rapid changes in the country since he was last in Moscow for a summit meeting with President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in May, 1988.

“Nowadays, if Rip Van Winkle were to fall asleep in the Soviet Union, he would only have time for a very short nap before finding that everything has changed,” Reagan told the Supreme Soviet’s international affairs committee after explaining the folk tale of the man who slept for 20 years and awoke to find a different world.

“There have been so many changes in those two years and four months (since my last visit) that I am beginning to understand how Rip Van Winkle must have felt.”

During Reagan’s two terms in office, he oversaw a major U.S. military buildup he said was necessary to counter the threat from the Soviet Union, which in 1983 he called an “evil empire.” He then watched as Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika reforms led to the warmest Soviet-American relations in decades and allowed the disintegration of the East Bloc.

After the meeting with the Supreme Soviet committee, Reagan had separate private meetings with Gorbachev and Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatoly Lukyanov.

Gorbachev and Reagan greeted each other warmly, embracing and repeatedly grasping each others forearms before reporters and photographers were ushered out of the room.

“I’m sure you must have sensed by now during your stay here in this country that we and people in Soviet society hold you in tremendous esteem and respect,” Gorbachev said.

In his address to the Soviet lawmakers, Reagan said he realizes reforms like the move to a market economy being debated in the Supreme Soviet are causing an uproar in the Soviet Union, and he advised patience during the transition period.

Reagan praised the changes that have suddenly put the United States and the Soviet Union on the same side in international issues, particularly the international condemnation of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.

“I have said before that we did not mistrust each other because we were armed. Rather we were armed because we mistrusted each other,” Reagan said. “Well, our mistrust has given way to what might be called cautious friendship.”